Development of an ultra-low power sensor for highway health monitoring

Abstract

With the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, government officials recognized the need to implement automated methods that reduce the cost of assessment projects and provide a long-term solution to monitor the structural health of bridges and highways. Although important research exists in the area of non-destructive evaluation, current road health monitoring efforts continue to be costly and time consuming. This thesis focuses on the characterization of a MEMS accelerometer intended to be the basis of a novel ultra-low power sensing system to remotely assess the condition of highways. The architecture of a sensor prototype built to validate an algorithm to obtain displacement figures from acceleration data is described. Results show that the sensor prototype successfully produces figures proportional to displacement at frequencies between 5 and 30 Hz. The layout of an AISC is presented as an ultra-low power alternative to components currently used in the design of wireless sensors.^